2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix
The 2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Grand Prix of Phoenix will take place on April 29, 2017 at Phoenix International Raceway. It was moved from the first weekend of April to the final weekend of the month from 2016. Scott Dixon is the defending champion, having won the 2016 race. He eventually finished a lap down to Pagenaud. Drivers entered 21 drivers are entered; but the change was for Ed Carpenter Racing. JR Hildebrand was cleared by series officials, and Ed Carpenter replaced Spencer Pigot in the 20. ;Chevrolet * Hélio Castroneves * ' Simon Pagenaud' * Will Power * Josef Newgarden * Conor Daly * Carlos Muñoz * Ed Carpenter * JR Hildebrand ;Honda * Takuma Sato * Marco Andretti * Ryan Hunter-Reay * Alexander Rossi * Max Chilton * Scott Dixon * Tony Kanaan * Charlie Kimball * Sébastien Bourdais * Ed Jones * Graham Rahal * James Hinchcliffe * Mikhail Aleshin Pre-race Before the race, JR Hildebrand replaced Zach Veach in the 20 from Barber. Russian captain Pee Saderd (who finished 21st the previous race), opted to have a Billy Monger sponsor since he got his legs amputated following a F4 crash. Saderd chose the Pai Pongsatorn sponsor since he was in the hospital for Saderd's entire time at the 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Both Pee Saderd and Will Power need to bounce back from poor Barber finishes before they get promoted in the seedings. Pee Saderd withdrew from the 2017 M-150 Thailand Tour on April 29-30, the race and the time difference from Phoenix and Thailand the reason. Before the race, it was announced that Billy Monger will compete on every Celebrity Family Feud tournament in 2017 using a protected ranking due to his amputation from a British Formula 4 race. Practice 1 Josef Newgarden, who won the previous weekend at the 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, topped the practice. Pidgeot was proud of their country by finishing 2nd, while Penskes Hélio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top four. There were yellows, all of them were for track inspection. Qualifying Qualifying Order Captains # Garbiñe Muguruza # Will Power # Graham Rahal # Magearna # Simon Pagenaud # Apolo Anton Ohno # Joey Fatone # Pee Saderd # Hélio Castroneves # Ryan Hunter-Reay # Pamela Anderson # Chespin # Scott Dixon # Dragonite # Metagross # Pidgeot # Mario Lopez # Allen Ford # Jonathan Bald # Olga Fatkulina # Larvesta Drivers # Charlie Kimball # Will Power # Graham Rahal # Ed Carpenter # Simon Pagenaud # Takuma Sato # Mikhail Aleshin # Marco Andretti # Hélio Castroneves # Ryan Hunter-Reay # James Hinchcliffe # Max Chilton # Scott Dixon # Josef Newgarden # Alexander Rossi # JR Hildebrand # Carlos Muñoz # Conor Daly # Ed Jones (R''') # Sébastien Bourdais # Tony Kanaan Warmup Lap # Garbiñe Muguruza - 19.8952 # Will Power - 19.6078 # Graham Rahal - 20.2417 # Magearna - 20.1253 # Simon Pagenaud - 19.6407 # Apolo Anton Ohno - 20.1930 # Joey Fatone - 19.9097 # Pee Saderd - 19.8165 # Hélio Castroneves - 19.5105''' # Ryan Hunter-Reay - 19.9472 # Pamela Anderson - 19.6913 # Chespin - 19.9724 # Scott Dixon - 20.1705 # Dragonite - 19.4295 # Metagross - 20.0067 # Pidgeot - 19.6693 # Mario Lopez - 20.3586 # Allen Ford - 20.6585 # Jonathan Bald - 20.1279 # Olga Fatkulina - 20.0939 # Larvesta - 19.8308 First Lap # Garbiñe Muguruza - 19.3029 # Will Power - 19.0188 # Graham Rahal - 19.4304 # Magearna - 19.7062 # Simon Pagenaud - 19.0242 # Apolo Anton Ohno - 19.3940 # Joey Fatone - 19.1620 # Pee Saderd - 19.2693 #' Hélio Castroneves - 18.8837' # Ryan Hunter-Reay - 19.2688 # Pamela Anderson - 19.2536 # Chespin - 19.3579 # Scott Dixon - 19.1705 # Dragonite - 19.0256 # Metagross - 19.3721 # Pidgeot - 18.9757 # Mario Lopez - 19.4935 # Allen Ford - 19.5375 # Jonathan Bald - 19.3822 # Olga Fatkulina - 19.2417 # Larvesta - 19.1216 Second Lap # Garbiñe Muguruza - 19.3107 # Will Power - 18.9078 # Graham Rahal - 19.3417 # Magearna - 19.7787 # Simon Pagenaud - 19.0207 # Apolo Anton Ohno - 19.3796 # Joey Fatone - 19.0979 # Pee Saderd - 19.1785 #' Hélio Castroneves - 18.8701' # Ryan Hunter-Reay - 19.2975 # Pamela Anderson - 19.2330 # Chespin - 19.2146 # Scott Dixon - 19.1446 # Dragonite - 18.9677 # Metagross - 19.2740 # Pidgeot - 18.9714 # Mario Lopez - 19.3780 # Allen Ford - 19.4916 # Jonathan Bald - 19.3404 # Olga Fatkulina - 19.2137 # Larvesta - 19.0962 Total Time # Garbiñe Muguruza - 38.6136 # Will Power - 37.9471 # Graham Rahal - 38.7721 # Magearna - 39.4849 # Simon Pagenaud - 38.2178 # Apolo Anton Ohno - 38.7736 # Joey Fatone - 38.3151 # Pee Saderd - 38.4478 #' Hélio Castroneves - 37.9266' # Ryan Hunter-Reay - 38.5663 # Pamela Anderson - 38.4866 # Chespin - 38.5725 # Scott Dixon - 38.3151 # Dragonite - 38.0449 # Metagross - 38.6461 # Pidgeot - 37.9933 # Mario Lopez - 38.8715 # Allen Ford - 39.0291 # Jonathan Bald - 38.7226 # Olga Fatkulina - 38.4554 # Larvesta - 38.2599 Average Speed # Garbiñe Muguruza - 190.565 # Will Power - 194.017 # Graham Rahal - 189.786 # Magearna - 186.360 # Simon Pagenaud - 193.414 # Apolo Anton Ohno - 189.779 # Joey Fatone - 192.327 # Pee Saderd - 191.387 #' Hélio Castroneves - 194.905' # Ryan Hunter-Reay - 190.799 # Pamela Anderson - 191.194 # Chespin - 190.768 # Scott Dixon - 192.050 # Dragonite - 193.676 # Metagross - 190.405 # Pidgeot - 193.912 # Mario Lopez - 189.301 # Allen Ford - 188.536 # Jonathan Bald - 190.029 # Olga Fatkulina - 191.349 # Larvesta - 38.2178 Starting grid Qualifying recap The qualifications started with 2016 French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza and the 2017 Math Open at Indian Wells finalist Ueli Kestenholz starting qualifying for the Czech Republic. Hélio Castroneves won his second pole of the year at Phoenix and also his second consecutive pole at Phoenix since the comeback of the track in the 2016 IndyCar Series. His teammate Will Power qualified 2nd, which is the same starting row as Barber, where Will Power qualified first and Helio Castroneves 2nd. JR Hildebrand, in his first race back since missing Barber due to an injury and got replaced by Zach Veach; who eventually finished Barber ahead of Spencer Pigot and Pee Saderd; spoiled the Team Penske top four by qualifying 3rd. Race Hélio Castroneves will lead the field to green on lap 1 of Phoenix. The first caution was for a crash involving Joey Fatone, Chespin, Graham Rahal, Olga Fatkulina and Pee Saderd. As of lap 15, it was still under yellow flag as cleanup from the early crash continued. Simon Pagenaud could overtake Sébastien Bourdais for no.2 in the BATC Contestant Rankings if he finishes 10th or better. However since Pagenaud won the race, he overtook Bourdais for no.2 and Pee Saderd remained no.1. As of lap 20, it was still yellow. Lap 22 was finally green flag racing. However at lap 70, Hélio Castroneves continued to lead the field and thus led 5600 laps in his IndyCar career. Nearly all drivers in the running section all pitted between lap 73 and lap 78. When Helio pitted for fuel, the lead was swapped to his Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud pitted, the leader was handed to his teammate at Penske, Will Power. Allen Ford entered the pits and they think it is a mechanical issue on Ford's car. Since Lap 22, it has been green for at least 100 laps until lap 138, when Apolo Anton Ohno competing for Japan spun into the wall. The 2016 IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud took the lead after Power and Castroneves pitted. Metagross came into pit lane with issues on their car; the same as Ford earlier in the race and exited pit lane 9 laps down to Pagenaud. There was caution on lap 138 for Apolo Anton Ohno, the DWTS season 4 winner. After Ohno was out, both DWTS season 4 finalists (Ohno and Fatone) are out. Eventually Metagross will finish ahead of Saderd and Ohno; the latter, Saderd, was involved in a lap 1 crash. Allen Ford reentered the race 66 laps down to Pagenaud. Allen Ford entered the pits again on lap 147 and then exited again a lap later. Metagross entered the pit lane again with issues on their car. Eventually a few laps later Metagross didn't finish the race, with contact being the reason. Simon Pagenaud pitted and then he kept the lead. However on lap 223, Dragonite pitted and brushed the wall with Ryan Hunter-Reay. Ryan Hunter-Reay entering the pit land could end Andretti Autosport's hopes of winning Phoenix and it did happen since he was out with a mechanical issue. As of lap 230, the 2016 IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud continued to lead Will Power and Pidgeot. This marked the month of Pee Saderd's struggles in April, with only the Math Open title being good for him; with a 20th place result at Long Beach, a Eurovision withdrawal for Russia, a 21st place finish at Barber, and an opening lap crash at Phoenix. Heading to the next race at the Indy GP road course, one of Pee Saderd or Olga Fatkulina must bounce back from their poor Phoenix finish. However, both of them continued poor weekends, with Fatkulina out as early as lap 3 and Saderd getting a penalty for avoidable contact with Larvesta. Simon Pagenaud won the race, his first of 2017. References Category:IndyCar